Celebrating Youth Coaches
Croton Harmon High School Freshmen Game at Croton Point Park, Croton-on-Hudson, Fred Opie whearing the sleeve on my right knee and Hank Vanassalt right in the sweats over shorts, a classic late 1970s look.
My lacrosse playing days started in the summer in the mid-1970s. Our physical education teacher, Don Daubney, a Springfield College grad, taught a lacrosse (soft stick and soft ball) unit to his eighth grade classes. He followed that up with a recreation (rec) program that lasted about three or four weeks. We learned the basics and once we had them down, the rec program culminated with a game against the Lakeland/Walter Panas rec program. Like my first Division one game at Syracuse against the North Carolina Tar Heels, I was both scared and thrilled at the same time. We faced off on Lakeland middle school field across from the old Westchester Mall on route 6. That field would continue to have an important impact on my lacrosse career and that of many other Hudson Valley children.
